When China introduced its game-changing 276-day coal policy which lit a fire under prices in 2016, Tribeca fund managers Ben Cleary and Craig Evans were on a plane 48 hours later heading to Beijing, Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong to figure out the implications for the moribund coal market.

Coal had been in oversupply for five years but within days they formulated an investment strategy that would help fuel a 145 per cent return for their $200 million Tribeca Global Natural Resources Fund, after fees, for 2016. It took eight weeks for most banks to update their coal supply forecasts.